View from the Enemy: Chelsea Fan On Moscow, Berbatov and Same Ol' Terry Always Cheating

August 8, 2010

It’s so easy to hate Chelsea isn’t it? Their bought trophies, their odious captain, and their rivalry with us for the title makes it so simple.

The fact that John Terry is still regarded as a “legend” at Chelsea, despite the fact he was getting off with a former Chelsea player’s bird, sums up their support. What made that whole episode so much more classless was the fans’ reaction to Wayne Bridge when he returned to the club he had spent six years, opting to boo him whenever he went near the ball. It’s not often I would side with a City player but the whole situation was diabolical and seemed to sum up what CFC have become.

However, not all their fans are bad eggs, and Chelsea D is a prime example of an old school blue, who loves their team without being involved in the less savoury side of the club. So here’s an honest bit of a banter with one of the good ‘ens.

Scott the Red: Were you happy with your team’s performance last season?

Chelsea D: What, you mean being double winners? Well, y’know, it was a struggle having to watch the lads lift both cups but I just about coped. Seriously, overall yeh. I wasn’t expecting anything at the start of the season and we had the odd blip but fortunately so did everyone else, and we actually played some decent football under Ancelotti which pleasantly surprised me. So given they managed to do all that and leave the zimmer frames in the dressing room, yeh, I was pretty happy.

STR: It must have been nice for you to see your lads lift two trophies in one season. Only happens once every 105 years at Chelsea. So, what are your aspirations for this season?

CD: After what I’ve seen pre-season I’d have to say to keep Hilario and Turnball well away from our goal. Apart from that, another double and a much better showing in the Champions League would do.

STR: Well they’ve certainly shown how important Petr Cech is to your team but who are you expecting to be your most important player this season?

CD: Personally, I was expecting it to be Fernando Torres but that won’t be so easy with him at Liverpool. So, looking at who we have actually got, I’ll go for the predictable and say Drogba. Even with a groin injury constantly niggling him last season, he was outstanding for the most part, so with the surgery done and dusted now, there should be no stopping him.

STR: Or maybe this is just the first of a long line of niggles now that he’s the wrong side of 30. Turns 33 this season doesn’t he? Obviously, I’ll have my fingers crossed he’s ok. Anyway, I know you weren’t at all happy when Ancelotti got the job but how do you rate his ability to take Chelsea forward now?

CD: At the minute I’m still not sure what I think about him. Whenever he was linked to us, like you say, I never wanted him at Chelsea, so it confuses me a bit. He had a great first season, and whilst I wasn’t always convinced with the diamond, at least he showed he isn’t one to bow to pressure the minute he’s questioned. Longer term though, I’ll have to reserve judgement.

STR: What’s your favourite chant you’ve heard sung at your ground?

CD: There’s been a couple of Ancelotti one’s although no-one seems to be able to make their minds up which one to go with, had to laugh when I heard ‘Carlo’s too sexy for Milan, too sexy for Milan’. To be honest though, whilst not what I’d call a favourite, probably the one that made me laugh the most was the inevitable ‘same old Terry, always cheating’.

STR: Where do you think United will finish this season?

CD: Below us hopefully.

STR: If you could have any two players from United’s current squad playing for you, who would they be?

CD: Rooney’s a no-brainer obviously, who wouldn’t want him in their squad? And whilst I know there’s mixed opinions on him, I’d go for Berbatov. I rated him at Spurs and would’ve loved to see us sign him instead of you. I think he’s totally underrated by a lot of people and his contribution isn’t always recognized just because he isn’t banging in goals every five minutes.

STR: A fan after my own heart. A Berbafan! What are your thoughts on United’s debt?

CD: ‘Thank fuck my overdraft don’t look like that’ usually! Realistically though, I’m hardly in a position to stand in judgement. For a start, it seems to be the nature of the game these days and God knows, if Roman Abramovich ever did get the right hump with us, we could be in serious trouble, likewise City should the Arabs walk away and leave that wage bill behind. I suppose the biggest difference though, is that United genuinely have earnt their status as a big club, so their situation would never be quite as disastrous as clubs around them.

STR: We like you, you can stick around. What is your favourite game your club have played against United?

CD: The 5-0 in the 99-00 season stands out. It was one of my favourite periods as a Chelsea supporter, we had some cracking players and their motivation was a little different to today’s. Loved it.

STR: And your worst?

CD: Some nothing game in Russia, can’t really remember a lot about it. ‘Trauma induced amnesia’ I think it’s called.

STR: I have a vague memory. Slippy night wasn’t it? So, how did it feel winning the first Double in your club’s history?

CD: Bloody marvellous thanks.

STR: Are you banking on being as lucky with the officials as you were in both games against United last season in order to win the league again?

CD: Surely it was more of a sound investment than luck..? Glad you’re not bitter about it or anything though. Seriously, titles are won over the course of a season, they don’t come down to 2 games whatever the decisions happen to be. Yes, we might have had the odd decision go in our favour but I’m sure if I had a Rafa moment, I could scrutinize the season and come up with more than enough that hindered us.

STR: When the title is decided by one point, then yes actually, the two head to head games do decide the title. All teams get decisions here and there across the course of a season, but it’s those 6-pointer games that can make all the difference, and you had unexplainable decisions both at Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford. As for being bitter, I think you would might feel the same if incompetent officials had cost you a title too. Talking of bitterness, Joe Cole made his “dream” move to the “biggest club in the country” after conning Chelsea fans in to thinking he really loved your club. How did that make you feel?

CD: It goes without saying I’m not happy about it. I always thought he was an honest player and totally believed it was never about the money for him and whilst I don’t want to get into slagging off a player who spent 7 years with us, let’s just say I don’t see him in quite the same light anymore. Will he get booed? Well, I’m sure there might be some who go in for that sort of thing but if they do, I can’t see there being much effort put into it.

STR: I imagine City didn’t even feature on your radar before but now your feelings towards them may have changed. Does it give you a different perspective of how non-Chelsea fans viewed and still view your club?

CD: Red rag to a bull now. Obviously City weren’t a consideration before, and why would they have been? They were hardly competition and that’s what really grates with the comparisons because any similarity between us and them begins and ends with money – and even that isn’t exactly the same. Yes, Abramovich came in and saved us from football obscurity and he was pretty loaded, City were hardly on the eve of going bankrupt and loaded doesn’t even cover the sort of financial backing they’ve inherited. Add to that the fact that we were in the top four and already playing Champions League football before we came into money whilst City were averaging 10th place finishes, and the comparisons start to get a bit stretched. Of course I don’t pretend the money didn’t make the difference between us winning the titles under Mourinho and not winning them because before that, whilst were there or thereabouts competing, we weren’t realistically challenging you or Arsenal – the money allowed us to do that. So on that level, yes I can see why other fans couldn’t stomach it and that’s probably where I’m at with City. Tossers.

STR: Indeed. And finally, what are your predictions for our match later?

CD: Comparing both our pre-seasons, I could be forgiven for reaching for the valium ahead of kick-off. Hopefully though, our backline’s amnesia might resolve itself just in time to remember they’re actually there to defend and we’ll leave the rest up to Didier Drogba.

Rooney is shite he should retire wank scouse bastard. Can't do nothing. Berbatov waste of space Bulgarian Bullcrap. Also like to add the sky is green and the grass is blue, the sun is purple and the moon is red and rainbows are strictly black.

Sam Smith @ 19:36: "Ferguson again seemed to suggest nothing was happening on that front when asked about Oezil!"

Silence is golden mate. What would you expect SAF to say - "errr, yeah, we've already made a bid and it's for 15 million quid which is about one-quarter of what this guy is worth " ??????

SAF didn't go to Craven Cottage yesterday to watch Fulham, his scouts have told him about Ozil for three/four years - he went to see for himself. And he doesn't have to tell anyone about UTD's decision-making process because UTD is no longer a publicly-traded company - it can all be done behind closed doors. So why would he say "boo" about what he's thinking - or doing ?

Denton Davey, obviously I wouldn't expect him to say that! However, he keeps on saying that he's happy with the squad he has and said that the players we had been linked with (and I would imagine Oezil fits under this bracket as we have been linked extensively with him) 'don't excite him'. So we'll see. I know Fergie has a habit of saying that we wont sign anyone before suddenly buying someone out of the blue, but I don't want to get my hopes up too much!

I personally think Oezil would be a brilliant signing in an area where we need a bit of creativity, especially with Scholes not being able to play twice a week. Also, we wouldn't have to pay more than £15 million for him, and he's only 21! So even if he turned out to be another Poborsky, we would probably recoup £15 million selling him on the back of an undoubtedly successful Euro 2012 campaign (pesky Germans, they always do so well!). So to me it seems like a low-risk win-win transfer!

Sam Smith - I am in complete agreement that Mesut Ozil would be a brilliant signing - and he's used to playing on the left side of an attacking formation which would be a huge bonus in terms of adding to the squad's flexibility.

About what SAF says - what he says and what he does are completely un-related to anything but the need to brush off reporters. In fact, it's all rather like the old carny's trick - bamboozle them with your right hand and move the card with your left hand !

Signing Ozil would be great - Scholes can't go on forever or can he ?

BUT the real question-marks that remains for me about the squad turn on the health of Anderson, Rio, and Owen Hargreaves. I think that IF Hargreaves can come back it would be a miracle. Rio is entering that "twilight zone" in which professional athletes start to go down the tubes - maybe he can regain full fitness but maybe he can't; it's a moot point but a very important one since when he's healthy, he's the dog's bollocks. Anderson has just become an even bigger question mark since there's no doubting the kid's up-side ability but his "professionalism" seems suspect and it would seem that he's getting to the "shit or get off the pot" stage in his UTD career.

What's worrying about these three is that when healthy they give UTD a plethora of defensive options but if they're all likely to be no-shows then there is likely to be a need for reinforcement, especially in the defensive midfield. I have no doubts that Jonny Evans can be a perfectly good replacement for Rio but I am less sure that Darron Gibson can provide the defensive ability that Hargreaves and Anderson provide.

Still, it's still three weeks until the transfer window closes for the time being so there's every likelihood that stuff is happening behind the scenes that we will learn about when/if it comes to fruition. I don't for one second believe that there's no money available for SAF to spend but, more to the point, why would he make purchases if the guys he can buy aren't better than the ones he already has - and are likely to be better than the kids he has in the reserves ? Better the red devils he knows than the rabbits in the headlines !